Switzerland Withdraws EU Application

The Swiss Parliament on Wednesday approved the country's decision to withdraw its EU membership application that it had submitted in 1992.

A majority of 27 to 13 at the Federal Assembly's upper house backed the move, with two abstentions.

The motion was already been passed by the lower house in March and was welcomed by government authorities.

Switzerland will now communicate to the EU that the application "is to be considered withdrawn", Swiss daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung quotes Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter as saying.

Shortly after the document was submitted in 1992, the population of Switzerland overwhelmingly rejected at a referendum the accession into the European Economic Area, and the government decided to suspend membership negotiations with the EU.

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